Controversial suggestions on how councils can save money made by Hammersmith and Fulham councillor Harry Phibbs were given a mixed response by residents this week.

Controversial suggestions on how councils can save money made by Hammersmith and Fulham councillor Harry Phibbs were given a mixed response by residents this week.

Cllr Harry Phibbs of Ravenscourt Park ward has created a list of 100 ways to cut council tax while keeping council services going.

Three of his ideas were to:

- Send children in care to boarding school or put them up for adoption because it is better for them and cheaper for us.

-Scrap translation services for council documents and stop funding refugee groups - teach people English instead.

-Use sprinklers in care homes to allow a reduction in night staff.

Yesterday reporter Saffron Pineger went to King Street, in Cllr Phibbs' ward, to ask residents what they thought of his ideas.

Dalling Road resident Tamome Shannon, 31, said: "I don't really agree with any of the ideas. Refugee groups have as much right to put their views forward as everyone else, and children being in care works better than sending them off."

One of the owners of King Street shop Young & Youngs Security Services, Stephen Owens, 46, said he agrees with the translation services idea. "I don't think the council should have to pay for it," he said. "And it's a good idea to send children to boarding school if it's cheaper. But he disagreed with the sprinkler policy. "Residential care workers are not just there in case residents catch on fire. I would have thought they might be helping them in other ways too."

Sulgrave Road resident John Skiotis, 45, of Shepherd's Bush, a charity worker, said: "I wouldn't take up any of the policies unless it was an improvement to services. Doing it just to save money doesn't make sense. If sending children to boarding school or putting them up for adoption would be better for them, why did it take financial concerns to make him think of it?"

Eyot Gardens resident Violet Robertson, 63, of Hammersmith, a part-time school escort, had doubts about Cllr Phibbs' ideas on children in care. "Once children have been adopted, their parents can't get them back," she said.

Painter and decorator Frank Hamilton, 59, of Eyot Gardens, Hammersmith, said: "There has to be a 24-hour service for elderly people in residential care homes, for safety. And they should automatically have sprinklers and fire alarms."

See our letters page on page 15 in Thursday's paper for more opinions, including Cllr Phibbs' views.